Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 lops dismemberment off for free DLC

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 had been billed as letting you blow people's limbs off, but that feature's been cut from the main game and shunted off into free DLC coming at launch, to avoid the wrathful gaze of the German ratings board.

If there's one lesson to take away from Sniper Elite V2, it's that players adore watching enemies suffer massive trauma as a bullet rips through their body. Unfortunately for Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, not everyone is so keen on it. City Interactive is cutting dismemberment from the release version of its own snipe 'em up then releasing it as free DLC, to avoid the censor's glare.

Producer Michael Sroczynski told Joystiq at E3 that the dismemberment feature was being removed from the retail game to avoid being banned in Germany, which frowns on such things. The ability to blow people's limbs off will then be added with a free DLC pack, which should be available everywhere expect Germany as soon as the game launches.

Essentially, it's so City doesn't have to incur the cost and trouble of making a separate version just for one country. Plenty of other splat-happy games have made specific German versions, but it is a bit of a nuisance. Still, this way, if you'd like to have a dismemberment-free game you can simply choose not to install the DLC, and everyone else is happy.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is coming to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on August 21. Here's the pre-E3 trailer, which lacks anyone losing arms or legs or anything; they're simply shot in the face: